Ceremony, drum beat, dance, movement, etc., to open the sacred doorway, "nierica", to access the numinous Mystery as the pathway to deepest happniess

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I want to present a contrast between two different sets of understanding about life, its purpose and how to live in a good way that promotes health and well being for all. The first Is the capitalistic society we have been brought up in that increasingly spreads throughout the planet, which rests on a de-spiritualized, materialistic notion of reality. It puts profits above people and thus breeds greed, arrogance, insensitivity, competition, selfishness, alienation and violence. In this society "things" are where its at, and getting more, new, and better "things" is the sign of success, accomplishment and achievement.

This system runs on always getting new things to replace the old ones. Its existence depends on "consumers" feeling dissatisfied with what they already have, and on the perpetuation of the illusion that happiness can be found through material accumulation.

Full blitz-advertising inundates us constantly with how new is better and that we will be happier if we get the new, updated version of car, clothes, hairstyle, perfume, computer, etc., we absolutely need in order to be happier, get the partner of our choice, feel better and be even more successful. If its not new and updated, if it doesn't have the latest bells and whistles, it must not be as good. This bombardment fills the field we live in and influences us all, especially our sub-conscious because that is where the advertisements are targeted to hit. This view of reality encourages selfishness, destroys the environment and fosters isolation.

Shamanism and indigenous spirituality around the world rests on a different notion of reality-- one that recognizes a ever-present, living, conscious spirit in all things and all times and that life is about relationship, not about "things". It recognizes that the universe runs on multi-dimensional, cyclical, rhythmic patterns -- not a straight, flat, one dimensional line from past to future. It recognizes the wisdom of repetition, of returning to the same act time and time again because with consciously applied repetition, a greater force is built than if the attention is always going off to something new.

Of course there is a time and place for exploring the new for without this exploration there is stagnation. But just as it takes quite a bit of rubbing two sticks together to produce a spark to start a fire, it also takes repetition of a chant, song, ritual, ceremony gathering, drum beat, dance movement, etc., to create the critical mass of energy necessary to open the "nierica" (sacred doorway in Huichol) to the Presence of Mystery and the infinite creative, healing power therein.

For shamanic people any opportunity to come together in ceremony around the sacred fire, to give thanks to the Ancestor Spirits, to give thanks back to the sources of life's many gifts, to pray for your family, for your community, is a precious opportunity in which the doorway to the sacred is opened and the participants can do important and needed spiritual work. This work promotes health, healing, balance, harmony and well being for all within the field--including those from what we call the "past" and the "future".

Ceremonial shamanic gathering is a vehicle by which to give back, thereby helping to balancing out some of our taking. It is also an opportunity to strengthen personal medicine through joining with the "kupuri", or energy raised by the ceremonial work. Of course, it also provided social connection time along with the spiritual joining and thus serves to build community as well.

So any time people can come together to do this work we enrich ourselves, our lives, and with right intention, become conduits through the joining of our hearts and minds as one to bring through Spirit's love, creativity, power, peace and wisdom for all our relations. The more we do this, the better off we are. It is interesting to see that before the invasion of indigenous life by the rape of western colonialism, people would spend a good portion of their time either being in ceremony, integrating from the most recent ceremony, or getting ready for the next one. Quite a different story from how most of us live our lives today.

Different world views, different values of what is important in life and different behavioral priorities for living a meaningful life. The shamanic paradigm represents a voice of sanity in a world that has a great deal of insanity.

I hope that we are all able to keep going forward supporting each other in finding more sanity for our lives, for our loved ones, and for those yet to come, creating a healthier and happier world for all our relations. HAPPY TRAILS. Love, tomás